Headlines in the 1940s Across the breakfast table, latest news, details linger that you can’t forget: “He struck him with an ice pick through the brain. They hunted him to Mexico. We knew they’d stop at nothing just to get their way.” Later on your paper round you get the news before the street wakes up Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, the day you learn to ride no hands. Playing round with parts of speech: topical, optical, critical, political, sociable, negotiable, reliable and still unclassifiable— so much near, so much out of reach. Vivian Smith   For John Watson at 80…